The Worm's Two Faces of Extractivism and Planetary Life in Frank Herbert's Dune

This paper examines the symbolic significance of the sandworm Shai-hulud in Frank Herbert's Dune through the lens of Capitalocene theory. Moving beyond the Anthropocene framework, which attributes environmental crisis to humanity as a whole, the Capitalocene posits that capitalism's logic of endless accumulation and extraction is the primary driver of ecological devastation. The sandworm, this paper argues, functions as a dual symbol: simultaneously an object of extractivism (representing the death-dealing logic of resource capitalism) and an embodiment of planetary life (representing nature's autonomous agency and self-regulating capacity). By analysing the worm's role in the spice economy, Fremen cosmology, and the novel's ecological systems, this paper demonstrates how Dune offers both a diagnosis of capitalism's self-destructive relationship with ecosystems and a speculative vision of alternatives grounded in ecological integration.